Master Thief in Vale
by P4Nd0RaS
Summary: Garrett, the Master Thief. Little is known about him. His full name, age, place of residence are all unknown and he is as discreet when he performs a heist. You will never see him coming, nor will you notice him leave. His place of birth placed in Remnant, what else does the future had in store for him? "What is locked, can be opened. What is hidden, can be found. What is yours..."
1. The Dark Project

This is inspired by the first ThiefXRWBY fanfic by The Assassin's Mentor

RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth productions while the Thief franchise belongs to Eidos Interactive (1998-2009) and Square Enix (2009-present)

* * *

So... Assumptions Assumptions and Assumptions. The Thief remake is actually, in a sense, the continuation of all three original "Old school" Thief games in a sense that everything stays the same except for the protagonist. Though I admit that I lack the former three games and thus has little information of the pre-existing characters, events, factions, ect. I finished Thief 4 and will use it's tools and ability, if focus is counted as one.

So background, It will most probably be AU in a sense that it is canon yet not canon. To make it clearer here,

**Prologue 1 : The Dark Project**

* * *

**[Pre-the dark project/ Early Childhood]**

Garrett's parents are dead at young age and thus he have been an orphan since four. Due to lack of funds, the orphanage barely has any food for the children they bear and thus the hungry inhabitants resorted to thievery. At age of 6, Garrett found his way of survival and at the same time his calling. At first only able to steal bread, fruits, fish and occasional meat, since the butcher is his greatest arch-enemy at the time, he improved his stealth skills.

[Let's not drop him straight into Vale, let's use Atlas as his place of origin. Intelligent people thrive here as they continuously seek knowledge, creating unique Dust mechanism, a semblance to the 'Hammerites', renamed Mechanists for incorporation and of course their enemy 'Pagans' too exist, for the sake of incorporations they are Naturalists, which uses Dust as it's natural volatile behaviour of a catalyst and worshipped the Grimm. The third are the Magicians that uses Dust crystals to perform miraculous feats and acts of Mystery.]

The regular bump, steal and run technique for children to use on unsuspecting adults he outdated by perfecting a perfect pick pocketing technique. He could steal item from people's pockets without alarming them at the age of 7 and at the age of 8, the jacket and chest pockets too are not out of his shadowy reach. He learnt science, technology, information, plans from parchments, documents and blueprints. It is how he is able to lock pick, find hidden compartments, disable traps and the such.

Occasionally, he even get private letters. Once he stolen a love letter from a private courier. As a gentleman thief, he personally delivered it to the recipient's dining table, after he took all existing valuables, not touching any Lien at all, for payment.

He is the top in his trade, untraceable, uncatchable and silent in the night. He is a self-reliant observer who sees more than others, and knows more than he lets on. Garrett's personal mantra is 'What's yours is mine'. Although Garrett once stole to live, now he lives to steal. It is less for the gold and more for the lure of the impenetrable, the impossible, the secret, the unknown. The challenge is what keeps his body and mind alive and sharp. He never steals from the rich to give to the poor - no matter how poor they are, nor how rich.

He of course is not perfect and thus has been noticed a few times in his attempt in thievery, but can be counted with one hand. The most memorable fail attempt in stealing is the time he met with Artemus Keeper. Appalled at the ability the man had as people, 'walked by him as if he isn't there' and thus in a hopeful attempt to steal his 'trade' he went for a grab into his pockets but to be grabbed instead.

Said man is rather surprised that such a young child managed to see him, a 'Keeper' and invited Garret into his organisation. There, Artemus trained him to be as inconspicuous as he can be, correcting the small mistakes in his sneaking. He too unlocked his Aura saying that it is necessary and taught him ways of using it to hide himself even from Aura users.

As a Keeper, Garret is bored. He was paid to do nothing, no more stealing, to observe the city endlessly. Paid only to keep watch of a small district is not challenging, barely nothing happens around the orphanage and when something does happen, the kids, him included, knows how to defend themselves.

As a 'Keeper', Garrett is given access to the 'Infinite Library', though the number of books are definitely finite so he called it the 'Keeper's Library', and thus lost the need to steal thesis paper and textbooks to learn. He have everything he needs without doing anything, just like the nobles of the city enjoy.

At first he despise the thought but he noticed a difference. The nobles gained their Liens in an unethical way, the keepers are shrouded in mystery but the stores they own do not overprice their goods nor do they sell fakes so he is definitely better than nobles.

Garrett tried to fill the emptiness of his heart by sharing what he have to his brother and sisters, teaching them how to read and write, the wonders of literature, but it just isn't enough. The gaping hole in his heart wishes for more, for excitement, the rush when one escapes from harm.

And so he left the Keepers at 12, just a year and a half in the organization.

"Are you sure you're letting me go?" Garrett asked his mentor about his release, "There isn't a single record of a Keeper returning to their normal lives," He is worried that 'they', the Keepers' assassins, would go after him. Even he could not face the might of the Keeper's wrath and survive.

"We know that this time will arrive Garrett," Artemus answered on behalf of the council, "Your leave will mean the safety of the city."

"But I'm a thief," Garrett doesn't understand how his release, and his future occupation, could lead to the saving of lives.

"You will know when the time is right," and with that Artemus disappeared, untraceable, leaving a confused teen behind.

He resumed his regular life of a thief and gained more and more infamy. If any fame before was caused by being caught in the act, now it's because he isn't caught in the act. Read the papers and you'll see it. Once a month, there will be a valuable jewellery or painting, belonging to a rich snobby noble, that has gone missing without any notion someone stole it.

Basso, a fellow inhabitant of the orphanage and also a thief, is the one that deals the items away in the black market. He is just 16 but have an inborn talent for business. His words might not be 100 percent trustable but his bonds are valuable.

When the first buyer of his loot paid the bill, he asked who is the amazing thief that is able to steal such item that are usually protected with numerous guards without being seen.

Basso told him, "Garrett's the man for the job, there's nothing he can't steal." and it spreads through commoners, guards, servants, nobles and everyone else living in the shadows. He always reply the same, if not similar, to the clients that purchases Garrett's loot.

One event where one of Garrett's orphanage brother, a fellow thief named Cutty, was caught by the local constable and was imprisoned drove him to attempt a stealthy jail break. Though he succeeded to find Cutty without any guards noticing his entry nor existence, said teen is already drying due to bad hygiene and damp condition of the cell. He did not fail but he did not succeed either. It didn't drove him down the path of despair though as he is quite indifferent to the death;everyone dies in the end.

* * *

**[Events of The Dark Project]**

One night, feeling mischievous, the cloaked teen silently creep towards an elder teen working diligently on his papers and right behind him, "Basso."

"Gah!" Surprised by the sudden appearance of the thief, as if he is never there, Basso Boxman jumped before he remembered that it's Garrett and calmed himself down, "Why couldn't you stop that?" This isn't the first time and most probably won't be the last.

"Any jobs for me?" Grinning from the never failed attempt to surprise Basso, Garrett good naturedly handed over the recent loot he had from raiding the thief's guild. It wasn't a challenge at all. He could see the last pile of loot, recent from a raid to the local warden, on the table, as he thought that he might have collected enough for the month but asks anyway if Basso got any deals going on.

"There is one actually."

'Hmm?' Garrett is quite surprised, he has only been hired three times and all of them are by unique individuals to steal unique items. "What's the target?"

"A Dust Sword."

"Mechanical or Magical?"

"Magic," Basso replied pointing to a big red dot on the map, "The house is on the Nature side."

'If the Science side of the city has a lot of traps, which can be disarmed, the Nature side of the city is a maze which is by itself a defensive mechanism. Still it should be no problem.'

"I'll finish it tonight." With Basso acknowledging his attempt, assuming the worst, Garrett disappears into the shadows as discreet as his earlier entry.

Stealing the sword is just a test. The owner of the house, Constantine, and the client that requested for the theft, Viktoria, are collaborators and now they gave Garrett a harder challenge, to go inside the sealed old quarter, before enter the central cathedral where the gemstone known as 'The-Eye' is kept. With the price offered by Constantine, Garrett could not have turned it down.

Rumours spoke of a great disaster, involving fires and Grimm, caused it's abandonment decades ago but it might not be true. So he went towards the district to found that entry is impossible.

Garrett found that his job just got complicated when he could not enter the sealed district without the elemental talismans. He had to travel to the Mage Towers of the Hand Brotherhood, protectors of the Talisman of Earth, to the Lost City to retrieve the Talisman of Fire, to an trap-filled cave to find the Talisman of Water, and finally, a grand temple to acquire the Talisman of Air.

The first talisman, Fire, was found in the ruins of an ancient civilization buried beneath the existing city, the lost city, its entrance hidden by the Keepers. To get the second talisman, Garrett enters a Mechanist museum in disguise. The third talisman was kept within a mage tower belonging to a brotherhood member, which he stole stealthily. The fourth, inside Keeper secured caverns, though unbeknownst to Garrett initially, the Talisman was recovered by the Guards of the Opera House above the caves, which he collected from the Opera master's desk.

With all the talismans, he entered the old district and went for the eye. He evaded undead, tormented souls that couldn't find peace, with a ghost of a researcher and walked unscathed out of the district.

After all the hard work he did, Garrett is especially proud of himself as he hands over the eye to his client but to be restrained by vines and have his eye, right eye, taken. All the joy from a challenging job turned into a raging wrath as he tried to break free all the while enduring the remaining pain in his right eye socket. Constantine gives his name as a final note, the Trickster, a great Naturalist propher, as he left Garrett for the dead.

This is all within the Keeper's predictions as two of their members found and released Garrett from his vine entanglement and freed him, let him flee the caverns. Evading the Trickster's traps, followers, and his strange collection of Grimms' detection, he went to finish things once and for all.

In his escape, he discovered the tricksters' plans. It is to return the state of the world now into what it is before, natural without any mechanical abominations, when Grimm roam free and is all powerful, those dark times of war.

Of course, facing a leader of a large organisation is suicidal a best and so he needs allies, the enemy of those Naturalists are the Mechanics, they also do not want another catastrophe to occur and with enough reasoning he should be able to enlist their help. Yet, the Trickster is a step above as his minions guard every path from the mansion, above the cavern, to the central cathedral.

Garrett stealthily passed the small army to meet with the leader of the Mechanics, Father Karras and after hearing the entire explanation, he machined a replica of The eye that is booby trapped. They apologized that this is all the support they could do but Garrett says that it is more than enough as he took the eye and went towards where the Trickster will perform his ritual, the maw of Chaos, the location where he will try to open a gate into darkness and unleash all sorts of monstrosities onto the world.

This is the hardest and most challenging time for Garrett as he drove his focus, abilities and Aura to it's very limit since not only the Trickster's minions are there, numerous lesser monstrosities roam the passages barring him of numerous routes. As expected of a master thief, he managed to swap the real eye with the fake eye and watched in contempt, from the shadow, as the eye ended the life of the Trickster and a few other Naturalist leaders.

* * *

**[Aftermath]**

Garrett touches the scar on his right eye before opening it to reveal a prosthetic prototype, a gift from the Mechanist leader as a tribute to his deeds that saved the city. He blinked once and twice to see if it is working and found it to have perfect clarity. When he closes his left eye, his vision can extend far like an eagle's eye without blurring, though it sacrifices field of vision.

"How is it?" Garrett looked back to reveal his mentor and fatherly figure, Artemis Keeper.

"It doesn't hurt any more," That should mean that it's better.

"Come," Artemis beckoned him to follow, "The Council is waiting."

Though reluctant to meet with the others he followed. Only recently does Garrett finally understands why he was released. Only he could start the recent events and thus solve it as quickly despite his initial ignorance.

In front of the Council, the elders of the Keepers, Garrett bowed as a formality before he is allowed to rise.

"You have done well Garrett," First Keeper, the head of the organization congratulated him, Artemus standing right beside. "For your continued service, we give you this book."

Grumbling at more prophecies Garrett opened and read the book but to grumble more. The whole damn book is filled with Hieroglyphs, a scared language it was meant to be. After the initial grumbling and a few minutes of translation and interpreting the message, Garrett wishes that he could right now scream out all the profanities he could chant.

"You kidding me?" He held back from uttering a word between that, "You meant that it isn't over yet?" He demanded a more detailed explanation, "That the turn of events as of last month will continue and I am directly involved with each and every of them?"

'Unreal!' he wanted to shout, 'I'm a thief, I'm no hero!' he wanted to reason but he knew that his fears aren't of the dangers but of the externalities that will occur if he fails. The countless lives hanging in the balance, all resting on his hands.

Artemus advised when Garrett asks about the philosophy of life, _"You couldn't run from life Garrett, now matter how good we hide in the shadows."_

"Nothing will change." The keepers chanted, "All is as it was written." The Elders, First Keeper and Artemus too followed, "The Trickster is dead." That statement he knew best, he saw it end, "Beware the dawn of the Metal Age."

* * *

**[Currently]**

"You have an adventurous childhood Garrett," The listening man tipped his shaded spectacles before continuing to sip on his coffee. The smile on his face is definitely amusement. "I would look forward to hearing more about this, 'Metal Age'"

"That story is for the next time," Garrett replied to the listener that has been entertained by his story. "So, how would you write that into a book?"

"Hmm," The man shuffled the stacks of papers on the table thinking, "This is enough for a textbook," He confessed that the quantity he gained from just one story is more than he had expected, "But I can split it into parts and in a way that readers will be inclined to continue reading."

"How so?" Garrett asks of the elder man's organisation of his life story to be given a paper with a list.

* * *

[Implications and mentioned items]

_**Thief - The Man in the Shadows**_

_Chapter 1- The Keeper's Training [Includes mention of childhood]_

_Chapter 2- Lord Bafford's Manor [The first heist]_

_Chapter 3- Break from Cragsleft Prison [Saving the informant]_

_Chapter 4- Down in Bonehoard [Makes a good thriller story]_

_**Thief 2 - The Old Quarter**_

_Chapter 1- Constantine's Sword [The Test]_

_Chapter 2- Haunted Cathedral [Implications of complications and acknowledgement of 'keys']_

_Chapter 3- The Mage towers [First talisman]_

_**Thief 3 - The-Eye**_

_Chapter 1- The Lost City [Second talisman]_

_Chapter 2- The Song of the Caverns [Third talisman]_

_Chapter 3- Undercover [Fourth talisman]_

**_Thief 4 - The Dark Project_**

_Chapter 1- Return to the Cathedral [The betrayal and plot twist]_

_Chapter 2- Escape! _

_Chapter 3- Strange Bedfellows [Recruiting support]_

_Chapter 4- Into the Maw of Chaos [Climax of the story]_

_Epilogue- Aftermath [and the prophecy]_

_**Thief 5 - Daily life of the Master thief **_

_Chapter 1- Assassins  
_

_Chapter 2- Raiding Warden Ramirez's Mansion_

_Chapter 3- Lord Randall's Mansion_

_Chapter 4- The Thieves Guild_

* * *

"What do you think?"

"Make sure to give me my part of the Royalties when the book is in the market," Applauding at the interesting list in his heart, Garrett definitely knew his story would sell. It's neither hubris nor overconfidence, he just knew that it will sell like hot cakes on a cold day.

Since there is nothing else to say Garrett says his farewell, "If fate let us meet again, I'll continue where I left off," and exited the room through the window, but to halt his movement on the balcony railings remembering something important.

He had been so excited finding someone that could notice him in the crowd that he inadvertedly get 'high' and after blabbering a lot about himself, though it entertains the other guy, he never knew his name.

"Before I leave," Crouching on the thin cylindrical railing without even a slight movement, perfect balance, Garrett asks the bespectacled man, "Please tell me your name."

"You may call me Ozpin," The man now known as Ozpin, apparently an eccentric travelling writer, seemed to held back on his last name but Garrett did not put much thought into such trivialities.

'A first name basis without either knowing the other's last name, It's acceptable.' was the Master Thief's thoughts as he jumped, from the fifth floor, up to the sixth floor, of the hotel Ozpin is staying on his vacation trip, and onto the roofs. Only there, where the light of the lamps can't reach, can he truly disappear into the darkness.

He have to go now or he'll miss the ship he's to stow away in. Equipment and tools are all with him, Clockwork retracted on his back and quiver by it's side filled with enough arrows of numerous types. A pocketful of Lien in his right and a gold pocket watch in his left, reflexively stolen from the good writer Ozpin, a small pouch of Poppies and Food enough for a week, he has everything he needed to leave the city.

Temperature is freezing but the thermal capabilities of his leather jacket comforts him as he manoeuvred towards the dock. Snow started falling softly as winter comes early here in the northern reach of Vacuo. It is not a good time for a vacation but really, some eccentrics love the snow as he hates the snow.

Why do he hate snow? Well, it proposes a lot of trouble to his job as a Thief. Opened doors and windows allow snow to blow in ensuring that his entrance is detected sooner or later. His leather boots will cause crunching sounds on snow no matter how he placed his steps or his posture of sneaking. It is the enemy of Master Thieves he'll tell you, it costs him perfect heists where victims do not know they were stolen from.

The boat that heads for Mystral and will stop by numerous small docks of the Draconic sea and that is his stop. Rumours speak that dragon scales and eggs are made out of pure gold. Though they are classified as triple S (SSS) and commonly called ultimate class by the northern people, it should prove a challenge to trick the senses of a primal Grimm.

* * *

**Equipment**

Blackjack - A hilted blunt steel encased in hard leather for incapacitation purposes. Made to knock people out, a good smack to the back of people's head, the nape, will ensure 6 hours of sleep. It can be used lethally to target vitals such as stopping hearts, breaking necks or induce great blunt trauma to the head.

Clockwork - A mechanized steel bow made with gears thus the clockwork. It also relates to the fact that Garrett's home is a clock tower and which spare parts he used to make this special bow. It's mechanisms allow it to change from short bows to long bows for quick drawing mid range combat or long range sniping purposes. It has never failed him until now.

Quiver - A regular quiver that holds Garrett's arrows special or not. Can bring up to 100 arrows but for stealth purposes, since it's heavy, he'll bring 25-35 arrows in it.

Ravenclaw - A hook claw with a rappel mechanism that allows Garrett to scale taller walls and rappel from tall heights. It is a great alternative to save rope arrows when the heights are in mid range. [Above reach but below rope length] The rope within the mechanism is 7.5 m long as regular rope arrows have 15 meters. Scaling height is restricted to arm strength though.

Leather armour and guards - Full body light weight protection of a vest, jacket, guards and gauntlets gave Garrett maximum defensive capability with minimum weight. Though it could not stop steel completely, it is definitely lighter than a metal armour or a vest.

Padded boots - Leather padded so as to minimise sound of steps, reduce sound from falling or impact, it also has a bonus effect of making Garrett seem taller by a few centimetres. [5-7 cm]

Pry bar - A tool to pry open stubborn edges be it a window, a door, a cabinet or an opened safe.

Wire cutter - A tool used to disarm traps and defuse the recently constructed time bomb apparatuses.

Wrench - A versatile tool, made out of pepper shredder, designed to unscrew anything be it grates, ventilations, mechanisms, anything with screws can be disassembled.

Razor - A special scalpel like knife that is made to cut paintings out of canvases without damaging it.

Flash Bomb - A volatile chemical that when triggered will cause a large flash and explosive sound that incapacitates the audio visual capabilities of any individual nor beast in the area. Very useful for stunning targets either to escape or to distract.

Smoke Bomb - The classic and simplest means of escape from pursuers. It obstructs vision of men and smell of hounds.

**Special Arrows**

Blunt Arrow - The basic form of all arrows before it is fitted with a head, canister or mechanisms to suit multiple purposes. It is designed to cause maximum impact and break upon it, leaving little trace if it is used to close faraway switches, break pulleys and knock a man out from blunt impact to the head. It is easily made and thus very cheap.

Impact Arrow [Non-Lethal] - Blunts equipped with canister containing small amount of white Dust. Gives a greater impact than a regular blunt and promises quicker and longer incapacitation.

Impact Arrow [Lethal] - Blunts equipped with canister containing large amounts of white Dust, it's implosion is equal to a grenade explosion and will lethally damage anyone within the vicinity and blow them back with anybody else within it's range of effect.

Broadhead Arrow [Lethal] - A blunt with strengthened shaft and an aerodynamically designed steel head equipped grants it supreme penetrative abilities. It could only be lethal any possible way it is used. Effects can be added or improved with attachment of Dust canisters.

Sawtooth Arrow [Lethal] - A blunt with strengthened shaft and an aerodynamically designed four pronged, serrated steel blade as a head promise not only maximum penetration ability but also maximum lethality. Due to sheer flight speed and damage that equals a high powered rifle, this arrowhead is not incorporable with Dust canisters.

Pike Arrow [Lethal] - A pike mechanism attached onto a strengthened shaft blunt activates after impact to pierce through the surface it is in contact in. Useful for piercing armour and tough hide. This arrow type is regularly attacked with an additional rope mechanism to form the Rope Arrow.

Water Arrow [Non-Lethal] - Blunts equipped with canister containing variable amount of blue Dust allows it to douse flames from afar. Size of flame doused is directly related to amount of Dust within canister. Larger amounts can douse larger flames.

Ice Arrow [Non-Lethal] - Blunts equipped with canister containing variable amount of cyan Dust allows it to freeze impact area according to amount of dust in canister. Smallest area of effect recorded is 100 cm^3 and largest area of effect recorded is 1.5 m^3. Especially effective on mid range combat, barring targets of movement and thus the next shot easier.

Fire Arrow [Non-Lethal] - Blunts equipped with canister containing small amount of red Dust. Lights up fire from afar any flammable material it came into contact to. Using this on any living target would only cause minor burns and to prepared Aura users, practically no damage.

Fire Arrow [Sub-Lethal] - Broadhead arrows equipped with canister containing of red Dust. It burns the wounds which the arrow impales itself into to disallow regeneration or an kind of healing. It have to be treated with surgery to avoid necrosis and other diseases that can be cause by rotten flesh.

Blast Arrow [Lethal] - Blunts equipped with canister containing large amount of red Dust. The explosion caused during impact has a greater range than a Lethal Impact Arrow and is more damaging, burns anything in the vicinity to a crisp. It has the explosive ability of a bunker buster. Equal to it's destructive abilities, it is very expensive.

Electic Arrow [Non-Lethal] - Blunts equipped with canister containing small amount of purple Dust can perform electrical shock of a right amount to it's target. This arrow incapacitates target without showing any bruises nor does it need to hit vital 'knockout' points to effectively down a man.

Electric Arrow [Sub-Lethal] - Blunts equipped with canister containing above average amount of purple Dust can perform damaging electrical shock to target. It may kill and sometimes it's victims luckily survive. Most cases end with the death recorded as heart failure.

Electric Arrow [Lethal] - Broadhead arrows equipped with canister containing variable amount of purple Dust, from small amount up to below average quantity, that boosts it's penetrative capabilities.

Thunder Arrow [Lethal] - Broadhead equipped with canister containing above average up to large amounts of purple Dust that gives it supreme penetrating power above a Sawtooth head. It has the same penetrative ability of a anti-materiel rifle but it's costs are equally great.

Rope Arrow [Non-Lethal] Rope mechanism attached to a Pike Arrow allow Garret to make escape methods from great heights or reach great heights. It can be a makeshift hook, swing or line by unravelling the rope before firing the arrow. A required tool of Master Thieves.

Flash Arrow [Non-Lethal] Flash bombs incorporated into a blunt arrow. Though it explodes in a smaller radius and sound, it is as effective to stun single targets from afar or a group of closely located men.

Choke Arrow [Non-Lethal] An arrow that releases noxious gas during impact and stalls the breathing of any living being in it's vicinity thus the name 'Choke'. Quantity of gas released in relative to the amount of chemicals in the canister but assume that this arrow always have maximum quantity of chemicals in it.

**[These are explanatory in nature and thus does not imply anything except power, lethality above and costs below]**

Blunts - Very cheap (0.5)

Rope - Cheaper than most (1)

Strengthened Shaft Blunts - Relatively cheap (1.5)

Heads - Relatively cheap (2)

Canisters - Relatively cheap (2.5)

Mechanism - Cheap (3)

Chemicals - Below Average (5)

Low Q of Dust - Below Average (4)

Below average Q of Dust - Average (6)

Above average Q of Dust - Pricy (8)

Large Q of Dust - Expensive (10)

[Be reminded that these are individual costs and thus need to be compounded to fit a certain arrow type]

* * *

If it is still unclear for you Garrett's new personality, then here's a full character bio.

Name : Garrett [I just knew it means Hard/Strong/Brave Spear]

Last Name : Shade [It doesn't exist but yeah I'll use this, it relates to his shadowy nature]

Aliases : Master Thief [To public, he never refers himself as so], Master Sneaker [To his fellow thieves], The Last Keeper [Self referred]

Age : 14 [In Flashback] 17 [In this chapter]

Height : 163 [Still growing] 171 when in padded boots.

Weight : 64 Kg [129 Kg in full gear]

Grip Strength : 200 Kg [Aura enforced is 500 Kg]

Punching Strength : 280 Kg [Aura enforced is 700 Kg]

Leg Strength : 300 Kg [Aura enforced is 750 Kg]

Maximum jump height : 3.5 m [Without Aura and never will]

Maximum drop height : 4.2 m [Without Aura and rarely will]

Intelligence : Knows more than he let's people on

Personality : Carefree but likes excitement

Likes : A challenge [Always a pleasure], gold [Liens are more liquid than gold though], trinkets [Ooh, Shiny], valuables [One man's trash is another man's treasure], gardening [Poppies though which is an opiate], literature [Fiction or non-fiction both are as entertaining] and art [Expresses more than a thousand words].

Dislikes : Hypocrites, nobles, jerks, Liars, politicians and schemers. [The same kind everywhere really]

Motto : "What's yours is mine"

* * *

Thank you for attempting this fanfic of mine and review well if you could, it will help me get better and better. Anything counts even small grammatical errors and the such since I write with a flow not a plan nor thought to you can put in your thoughts and who knows, it might be incorporated or cause some effect to the story.

There will be at least 4 chapters before Garrett meets with protagonists of RWBY cast, meeting with less desirable characters along the way and Ozpin again for the continuation of the 'story'.

Pairings are currently Blake vs Weiss. Yang and Ruby is somewhat impossible in a sense that Yang is too straightforward for Garrett's taste and himself too mysterious to her tastes. Ruby is just plain childish, there might be crush moments like she did to Jaune, I actually doubt that her romance is going anywhere. Well, unless a new character shows up that fits the bill perfectly.

As to reasoning why Blake vs Weiss is my choice, first is Weiss. A heiress of a large company with 'controversial labour and questionable business partner' is a noble, the same kind that Garrett supposedly hate. Just like the thousands of romance stories that incorporate two individuals of different worlds that initially hate each other, they'll get to know each other better and ends with one of them going to the other side.

Blake in my defence is perfect for Garret. Both are kind of quiet, discreet and as mysterious. Having a 'link' between those of few words they understand each other easily. They also have similar views of the world having similar childhoods albeit the difference in environment and are opportunists in nature.

That is just me though and I am definitely subjective.

I'll try to persevere through this and actually make this fanfic work.

I have asked The Assassin's mentor of his permission to use similar albeit more in depth plot, check his "Worth more than gold and silver" Thief and RWBY Xover.


	2. New World

This is inspired by the first ThiefXRWBY fanfic by The Assassin's Mentor

RWBY belongs to Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth productions while the Thief franchise belongs to Eidos Interactive (1998-2009) and Square Enix (2009-present)

Soon I may have to add longer and longer disclaimers or resort to "I don't own anything."

**Chapter 1 : The New World**

It's twice my regular amount of words this chapter and it's kinda original. By the new world, it means the new continent of America as it was founded by Cristopher columbus. In remnant, there is but one undeveloped continent and that is the one above Mystral, shaped like a dragon. It's southern part fertile and livable, it's norther parts are more sand, metamorphic rocks and volcanoes, the setting of this chapter will be there.

Chapter 2 will be a reccountre. Google that and you'll instantly understand who will be back and Chapter 3 will end the travels of this unlikely party.

This chapter will have multiple 3rd point of view based on perception of a character. It's pretty obvious so I'll just let it be, not inflating the words even more.

* * *

Stowing away is similar in a way to thievery. The shadows is your friend and discreet actions are the trick to enter the ship without being noticed. Sometimes there are places in a ship that grants stowaways a haven to hide in, among the ship's cargo is number one assuming it is a freighter ship or a container ship. For regular passenger ships or cruisers, locked rooms are an easy option, since nobody expects someone in a locked room.

Garrett is currently in such a place, one of the Business class passenger room that was vacant. Most of the rooms are probably vacant right now due to booking from different docks, even continents. He could easily change room from the one he used to any other unoccupied room or recently occupied rooms for more safety. It's just another reason why stowaways are quite common, as common as patrolling sailors.

One fatal flaw about stowing away is lacking food. Stealing from the kitchen, supply storage and maybe edible cargo are plausible options, but doing so alerts a presence of a stowaway on a ship be it a man or a rat and captains do not like rats. Though sailors may grumble at increased patrols and are forced to check empty rooms that are supposedly unoccupied to find the rat's nest, it may lead to the stowaway on the ship being found and in the worst case, his or her capture.

This ship's first dock is in three days and Garrett packed food for seven days so that is no problem. Even if he doesn't have food, fasting is a regular procedure in times of famine and he has an efficient energy consumption so the one week food for regular people he held, he can conserve it to last one and a half month if not two months.

Still, it isn't Garrett's personality to be passive. He couldn't stay in one place for more than 24 hours and thus explores the ship at night, searching through the contents of traveller backpacks and businessman suitcases, take a bill or two from the economic class passengers' wallets. With controlled amounts so that each victim will think, 'Hmm, I must've counted one too much.' Garrett exercises his thieving skills endlessly as his mind may 'rebel at stagnation'.

It was on the third day, a few hours before docking, that Garrett spotted an unusual individual at the back of the third class seats. A teen of Garrett's own age without any visible guardian, parents or any adult, that looks around with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Oddly wearing a open leather jacket and blue khaki, a slight inclination to thug fashion, he seemed to be out of place when one looks at the rest of the regular passengers.

A moment of watching later, the teen is easily seen pick pocketing a man, sleeping, in front of him and in such a poor way that it is laughable. His hand reached too far into the pocket, the touch could easily wake a sensitive person up. The continuous presence he exudes towards the sleeping man by leaning his body in is definitely a bad thieving posture, since if the man wakes up of any possible reason he would be caught in the attempt.

Though successful, luck being excluded out of the equation that Garrett uses, he isn't amused at all. He plans to do the same to the teen, a little demonstration of how to pick pocket right but to be surprised when the teen's evergreen eyes to meet Garrett's eye and now that is amusing. The teen is also visibly amused, a reaction that says, _'I never noticed someone like that,'_ and_ 'Did he see everything?' _which is supposed to be accompanied with fear and anxiety of having a whistleblower.

Garrett nods his head towards a door, an exit outside, towards an external passage of the ship that can lead to the bow deck, or to the back, the stern deck. Of course, the smaller stern is a better option since sailors only pass through the area once every one or two hours while they constantly patrol the front deck. This has an unspoken message of, _'Come to the back, maybe I'll say something.'_

Once they arrived at a good spot, a location with good cover, Garrett pulls his face protector down and then his hood back to show his appearance as a symbol of non-aggression or the kind as the Faunus teen watches the gesture with curiosity, and observes the young man to find that he is but the same age as himself, surprising him.

Short black hair and no facial feature, Garrett's appearance without the hood and all appears to be neat, too neat for someone of the shadows. Firm body posture implies of military training, but at the time and age combat training is perfectly common, as if the scar on the closed right eye didn't say anything about the numerous combat he might got it from. The Faunus concluded that Garrett is some kind of fallen noble but is still unsure at such blatant deduction.

Garrett replied the observation with his own, gauging the muscle ratio of the teen's body, concluding that he have self trained, a little advantageous deviation to the muscle formation, easily blamed on divergent DNA of Faunus people. A slight bulge at the back of his jacket, possibly the reason why he used it open, shows that he has a weapon. Threat level is not high though even if he has superhuman capabilities.

"You're not a passenger of the ship aren't you?" It seems that he may tried to remember the faces of all who got on board, a data that can be used for a lot of things.

"No," Garrett easily admits but he grinned in reply to the Faunus' smirk as he replies with a imaginary jab, "But neither are you." Rather than taking offence like a regular person who have been accused, the teen's grin just got wider.

"Sun," He introduces himself, "Sun Wukong." which was replied in kind with "Garrett, just Garrett."

"So where are you headed to Garrett?" Not minding the trivialities just like himself Sun wishes to share their destinations.

"Towards the unknown?" Chasing rumours, travelling blind, he didn't exactly chase after the sun nor did blew with the wind so by his opportunist train of thought, this is what describe his travels best. "All the while chasing after truth."

Sun was surprised that Garrett sound like an adventurer. Surely someone of high standing have a higher purpose and so a fallen noble should seek a way to regain lost respect, position, belongings and place in society. 'Nah,' Sun's own mind rejects that concept for he believes that Garrett is even higher than that, above nobles. 'Who is he anyway?' he obviously asks to himself at first, all the while, till now. Why do he feel so comfortable?

"I don't have such aspirations," Sun replied of his current state of loss, "Don't know where to go, looking for something to do, what I am supposed to do," The way he states things seemed like a person that is searching for 'Raison d'être', a supposedly endless journey, until the man or woman settles down.

"Sounds like a poet I know," And when Garrett says that it means one of his 'brothers' back at the orphanage, an over dramatic thief. No matter how many times he is advised to stop his assassination of guards he refuted with 'Irony'. "Misled," that is the right term for him, "He never found what he is looking for." Poetic justice his end is, Karma is always righteous. "Will you be misled the same way?"

"I don't have a road to be misled from." He easily answered, "In this darkness I pave my own road, or are you willing to be a guide?"

"It sounds wrong for a moment there." Garrett confesses, this scene is wrong on so many levels. First is that he came close to speak like a true Keeper and two, there is some kind of romance in the air that is just wrong for two males and finally, he's not some sort of enlightened priest that can take on a disciple, he's the Master Thief, the darkest of the dark.

"Yeah," Sun agreed, rubbing his own head thinking where does all that come from. If some omnipotent cosmic entity just made them act an olden drama, "I don't know what got over me but I regularly do not act like that."

The two then heard footsteps, a sailor, getting closer and the two dived behind the closest box they could. Though Sun slide caused some noise on the wooden surface of the ship, Garrett muffled most of it with a Glyph. His left hand shining bright and his shadowy black Aura dancing in the air, a sudden sense of misdirection assaults both the sailor and Sun.

They suddenly felt that the winds are getting colder and quickly assumes that it is best to return into the warm hull of the ship. The only thing that kept Sun from moving to perform that goal is the unglyphed hand that grabs his arm, holding him down. The Faunus couldn't admire nor fascinate at such bizarre occurrence like he would like to, his whole body and mind is in a frozen state of lock down, most probably caused by the single arm that held him.

Once the sailor steers clear, in a matter of seconds compared to the few minutes he would've stayed, Garrett let loose of his focus and let everything go back to normal.

"What. The. Hell. Was. That!?" Since his reaction has been repressed, his expression is bordering on ecstatic. "How d'you do that?"

"Training and a lot of knowledge."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Where I come from, it's a bit different," Different would be a understatement, Weird would be an underestimation. Atlas , the city of same name continent, is a nest of freaks. Mechanics 'Machinists', Naturalist 'Pagan', Wizards 'Mage', Keepers 'Assassins' all sorts of intellectual lunatics converge in that single location.

"So, why invite me out here?"

"I am going to search for a gold cache said to be protected by Dragons, it most probably going to be just a rumour but for the heck of it, I'm going to check it out." It sounds crazy but Garrett is definitely more sane than any Atlas citizen, "You have an amazing power of observation that managed to see me. You have potential and I invite you to follow me in my travels, which include my next destination." Contemplating a suicide is normal for regular people yet Garrett's confidence sways, "It's going to be a challenge." He added as if this is some sort of extreme sport, not a death sentence.

"Count me in."

Garrett laughed a bit at the fearlessness, bravery he preferred to call it, and gave a simple instruction, "Go to the highest tower in the city, I'll be waiting." a place to rendezvous and at the same time a small test and after that one sentence, Garrett disappeared.

"Damn," Sun did not curse and is in awe. Garrett was just there and after he blinked, he's gone. He believes that even if he do not blink, Garrett would disappear as quickly if not faster. "I really should ask how did he do all that." Though Sun loves the attention he gained when he's in 'trouble' but he would've like the ability to lose any pursuers in an instant.

* * *

A few days passed before the ship docks and from then til now, Sun couldn't find Garret anywhere. He searched high, up to the roof of the ship, and low, to the ends of the cramped cargo space, but couldn't even get a small indication that the Master Thief exists, as if he was just dreaming of a man that others couldn't see. Sun could hear the chuckles at his attempt but even that might be imagination.

The only way to determine that Garrett and his odd power exists is to find him on the highest tower in the city as said and the first step is to pass through the dock's large gates that divided the districts.

Walking in the queue for once, Sun handed over his ticket slip and travelling arrangements, stolen from the businessman as from before, and was allowed passage without the batting of a single eye. As expected of a fourth-rate country, the people of the colonies aren't exactly technologically advanced and intelligence, trickery and cunning is underrated.

First and second-rate countries usually impose heavy security onto printed tickets, having biological imprint on it, requiring numerous checks, baggage check, before allowed through customs. The officers at customs ruthless, they will make sure a traveller is a hundred percent safe for entry and if not they'll try harder. Again, sea travel isn't regulated well and is why it's still a popular travelling method for those without legal methods of entry into a country.

The largest city on the new continent, New York, is similar to the medieval times. Homes weren't made out of bricks, they are made of stone. Lamps non-existent, there are numerous torches on the walls and hearths in the middle of plazas and squares. The buildings are tall though, reaching up to sixth floor, falling from that heigh will surely hurt and without the protection of Aura, will lead to death.

_So, the highest 'tower' in the city is... You got to be kidding me._

Sun looked around the city acting obviously like a tourist and found the meeting point, the tallest tower of the 'keep', even the terms for the buildings are old but that is not the problem. The problem is that the keep is like 18 storeys and the highest tower counts 2 more. On average, the vertical distance from the ground up to the highest point, which is not a tower, is about 80 meters, 260 feet high.

Despite being born as a Faunus with Monkey feature and capabilities, even scaling this high of a cliff vertically is akin to challenge. A small mistake might mean serious damage to body and capture by local authority, neither is a good thing. All the contemplation disappeared however as a hood popped out of the shadow of a tower roof, sitting there comfortably and seemed to be reading a book.

Even the question of _How?_ couldn't come to mind for there are many other question. The first and foremost, how is he able to find such place in such short span of time and the scale it within the same amount of time? Garrett do not have animalistic features that Faunuses commonly have but he currently have shown capabilities above superhuman faunuses themselves.

Sun watched the keep grounds to see numerous guards patrolling, in daylight, as they bring in criminals, trash and beggars of the city in for interrogation and from the noose on a platform, possible capital punishment. A tall wall divide the district with the keep, it's as if the keep is a district of it's own. _How to infiltrate it?_ is the next question.

"Excuse me sir, may tourists enter the premises?" Acting truly like someone who knows exactly nothing about the local rules or the such Sun bravely ask with a smile to one of the Guards.

"The public area of the keep is up north," The Guard replied rather polite, "Just follow the wall till there is a entry sign." But of course he warned, "Anywhere else is forbidden, if you are caught trespassing," He paused for a dramatic effect and implied suffering, before making it simple. "Just don't."

"Of course sir," Playing the role of a lawful person on passing grade Sun walked in the direction given.

Enter through the public hall and up to the inner levels without getting caught. Get onto the roof then scale the tower or get out of the tower windows and up on it's roof. An easy to say plan, _How do he deal with locked doors?_, that is one, _What if he gets caught or a Guard saw him and alerted the rest?_, worst case scenario. He is casually walking while thinking.

After all, Garrett never defined a time limit. Surely it is expected of him to complete the challenge within a certain time period but it should be lengthy enough that it is unspoken, a day or two? No matter how long time he has, the faster he could do it, the better impression he could give.

_I'll start now_ Sun determined himself as he starts his 'test', infiltrating a keep, it's inner levels and up to the towers.

So, the structure of the keep. The lobby, first floor, is a large hall of which is a training ground at it's back, execution platform at it's let and public offices at the right. One level below is the armory and storage, open onto the training and execution round, all weapons are kept here. Below that, the second basement and the lowest floor is the regular storage room, in case of a siege they have plenty of supplies to survive a year cooped up behind the gates.

The second floor is the barracks, mess hall and small kitchen at the very back. Third floor up to tenth floor are regular papers offices where they have accountants check on finances of their wealthy citizens or investigate crimes on their blackboards. Eleventh is the morgue and twelve up to thirteenth floor are the prison cells and it's facilities. Fourteenth is the recreational floor for nobles and rich people, having a rooftop garden on it's roof, and getting smaller, the floors above are the executives office and sixteenth and final floor is an exclusive room for the Baron, head of the Guards.

The towers start at the fourteenth floor, above the prison section, and are each six storeys tall. There are a total of eight towers facing each of the compass directions but Garrett sat on the north, the furthest away from the main hall which faces south. Most of the towers are accessible through the gardens.

Entering the great hall, Sun see's the bustle of the keep, the numerous people here for their own business. Whether it be the citizen records, ot governmental services, Public services of many kind is available here for those who could pay. No souvenir stores though which is a shame.

So, first step is cleared. He has entered the building successfully and now heads toward a door that clearly said, **KEEP OUT** and under it, **Authorities**** only** which is a classic tag. The door, conveniently unlocked, led Sun inside to the main hallways and so he traversed the path behind cabinets and doors in case anyone appears towards the stairs.

There are elevators, right in the middle of the building and shoots upwards pretty fast for old mechanism, but it isn't exactly safe when there is a prospect that it might stop on a floor where numerous Guards will ride. What excuse could he give then, a new recruit ordered to meet with group leader? It might work but then it might not, let's keep to the safe path.

The stairs, sadly, aren't conveniently placed. Each ends of the floor, starting from the second, have a set of stairs and Sun could't just perform a U turn to get onto the next level. Buildings are usually conveniently built for convenience of users but Sun guessed that this may be deliberate by it's architect.

"C'mon lads, it's time for lunch. Mustn't miss a meal for it might mean your life."

"Sir!"

Sun, the sunshine sun, high in the air, time around noon, the few Guard-in-training in the barracks led themselves off towards the mess hall. A few however, remained and lingered around. Some walking pointless patrols for no reason, some reading books and a few others dozing off. The light in the building is pretty scarce with the few windows at the edge and few candles on tabletops as the only source of light, as long as one do not use the windows route, chances to be found should be reduced and the shadows of beds and cabinets should help.

Sun took a half of his staff as it turned into nun-chucks as he used it to, from a considerable distance, blow away candles. He jumped over top bunk beds onto the beams to avoid detection entirely. It's lucky that his sense of balance is perfect since he easily traversed the length of the beam to the end before dropping and sneaking onto the third floor.

The rest is not much different, he blew out candles with a swing of his nun-chucks and under the shadows he sneaked and when a chance is present to get onto a higher platform, the beams again, he took it. Only a few unfortunate occurrences, but lucky at the same time, when he met with singular guards that wouldn't budge and he had to perform a silent take down by a calculated blow to the head.

Sun chose that scaling the tower, on the shadows side, is much safer than walking the stairs up onto the top of the tower where more guards might be. This is far far easier than the sneak and knock out run he just performed but the experience is exhilarating, infiltrating and unseen.

"I am impressed," Garrett closes his book the moment Sun's hand touches the roof, he even wasn't looking back. "I expected a commotion down there."

"A commotion, yeah," One will surely occur when the Guards find their knocked out colleagues in closet rooms or toilet cubicles.

"You're just in time too," When Sun follows Garrett's gaze, he saw the man he had pick pocketed from. Said man wasn't in a good shape, Sun could see the bruises on the man's arms and legs, it looks like whips.

"I'm innocent! I'm not a illegal immigrant!" The man's desperate screams fell on deaf ears as he was brought onto the hanging platform for, what else, hanging. "Let me make a call," Yes phones exist here, the old Graham Bell kind, "I'll prove that I'm not lying." but he's still unheard.

Civilians look up onto the platform when they see another 'sinner' about to be hanged. The hanging platform is on the wall you see, that is how they show punishment, instil fear into civilian minds.

Sun instantly acted, wanting to drop down and save the man that was in this predicament because of him. The guilt is there for once since he never caused someone else this much pain. It's also how shocking a small violation as illegal entry would be punished by death, most countries regularly deport and if impossible, put them to work as low wage labourers, diggers and menial tasks.

Garrett stopped him though, held him by his pendant's necklace.

"If they see your face, they will post wanted posters around the city and that is needless attention," Garrett explains before Sun could question anything and notices that he did not say 'Don't do it.' just 'Don't let them see your face.' He then stood up and took an arrow from his quiver saying, "The wind is too strong here, let's go down."

Sun wanted to ask, _'Why take out the arrow if you aren't going to shoot it?'_ but the question is easily answered as Garrett stabs the arrow's strange mechanic head onto the edge of the roof and rope, long enough for five storeys height of the tower, unravelled by itself down.

"Here," Garret handed Sun fingerless leather gloves, the fingerless part of the gloves are the index and middle finger, probably consideration for his weapon triggers, the exact opposite of his own. "Go," He ushered as Sun without much thought used the gloves and let the rope slid fast onto it as he let himself down the rope. Once he's at the very end, he let go of the rope's end and landed pretty easily on the rooftop garden.

Sun look up to see Garrett sliding down as fast and at the end of the rope, he pulled hard so the arrow falls with him. Landing without a sound, he with great dexterity, looped the falling rope around his arm before catching the arrowhead. The arrow is definitely strange and hand made, it looks like a pike/hook mechanism, a tool for abseiling but there isn't enough time for complete analysis, there is a life at stake.

The two watched, Garrett calm while Sun is anxious at their passiveness, at the man who has been roped but still pleading for innocence as a priest reads his last rites.

Sun looked at Garrett with utmost urgency, "What are we going to do?" as the cloaked teen finally takes his bow off his back and said, "You wait, I snipe."

He first whipped the arrow open from it's compact form onto a regular bow before he pulled a trigger and have it expand bigger making it a longbow. He then took another oddly shaped arrow, like a trident but an extra edge and it's shaft is like polished steel. As Garrett pulls the string, the arrow oozes of killing intent. **'Lethal!'** it screamed.

But it was never let loose for a thrown axe cut the noose before the man could be hanged. The crowd split to reveal a cloaked woman, less shady than Garret, who have a throwing posture while holding another axe in her left hand ready for another throw.

Nobody could react fast enough to stop her from performing the throw as the second axe hit a lever, which opened a compartment of the platform that felled the man down a series of ledges onto the mass grave below. Survival of the man is not guaranteed but neither do his death, this girl has just saved his life and paid it with her being outlawed if she hasn't already.

Both axes spun in the air like boomerangs as the girl caught it, hid it under her cloak and ran.

"Get her!" The Guard captain ordered nearby guards to apprehend the foolish girl who dared to oppose the authority as she ran.

Garrett and Sun are both definitely amazed by such display of courage and both of them have an unsaid agreement in the moment.

**'_Help her_'**

"Here, use this," Garrett hands over a cotton face protector just like his own, a spare maybe, "And cover your head with this," and a cloak too.

"I'll use the mask but no cloak, It's just not me."

"Your hair line is too long to hide under it anyway." As expected of a level-headed person, not taking offense even at the implied insult. '_I definitely like this_ guy,' Only after he noticed that it sounded wrong he added, '_in a brother kind of like.'_

"What are you waiting for then?" Garrett urged towards the faunus that suddenly stopped in his track, snapping him from a possible inner turmoil, "Here are some shells that I found passing through the armoury," Garrett handed over two dozen or so shotgun shells as Sun could only wonder when did he raid the armoury or even know what weapons he wielded. "You go help the girl down on the ground and I'll follow you from the rooftops."

"Roger," Sun easily consented to the simple plan as they started descending from the Keep.

Unlike the way up, they now only have to grab the wall with their fingers, holding onto it, and slide down the side of the Keep down to the ground. Halfway, Garrett jumped with great strength as he literally flew a two hundred metres, passing the execution platform, the road, all the way to a civilian rooftop, as he quickly resumed his dash after the girl.

Sun not confident of such aerodynamic capabilities chose to land on the empty grounds behind the platform, since all Guards chased after the girl, scales the wall and drops onto the road on the other side. before giving chase. After following the trails of footprints, Sun attacked the Guards' back with his staff one by one before putting his attention onto the girl whose weapons are, weapon now, is a heavy halberd of odd blade edge, shaped like [3K].

* * *

It is a foolish action and she knew it, but she also knew that the man currently scheduled for hanging doesn't deserve such end and so her heart makes the decision, of what is the right thing to do, and her right arm grabbed the axe positioned right below it and threw it high and true, towards the noose.

Once the man safely landed on the wooden platform and the attention is on her, her left hand reached to a second axe and threw it as hard at the direction of the platform. The Guards ducked as the shocked man curled to a ball to avoid the axe but they never were the target.

The axe broke the lever as the platform opened up a disposing pit, where hanged bodies are dropped into, and the unfortunate man fell into it. Survival is not guaranteed but at least he won't die an unruly death.

Now the problem is the Guards. She is already running but the pursuers are chasing not far behind her. The city might be a maze but the Guards, somehow, has more knowledge than she have and finally cornered her to a dead end.

When she is about to make a final stand, grabbing her two axes, joining it together as it formed a battle halberd, a commotion occurred behind the ranks of the Guards. A man flew up, many others smashed to the wall, all knocked out by a masked teen with a flaming staff. Once the Guards has been disposed of, reinforcement coming soon, the teen Faunus, from the yellow tail behind him, looked at her with calculating eyes.

"Thank you," She first appreciated the help as she ran, with the teen beside her, out of the dead-end onto another path as they heard reinforcements coming.

"Sun Wukong, you're welcome." The teen introduces himself as they ran, his mouth definitely smirking under the mask.

"Hyma Arhat," She replied in kind before asking, "Where to?"

"I thought you would know," Sun replied a bit disappointed that the girl doesn't really have a plan but doesn't seem to mind. He never needed a 'game plan' before, so why should he now?

They just kept running with Sun smartly finding methods to get above roofs to pass from closed alleys to another. Still no matter how they evaded the Guards, many others resumed their colleagues chase. They are everywhere, at every corner of the road. Besieged on all sides, both outlaws has now found themselves unable to escape conflict and by looking at the numbers, they aren't advantageous at all.

"Garrett," Sun hoped that he's around and listening, "We need help here."

As if that is a cue, an arrow impaled itself into a beam above the two as a long rope unraveled itself. Sun instantly climbed the rope as the Hyma soundlessly followed him up. Once they're up the rope, they found that they could not got anywhere else but down. There is no roof close enough they could jump on to, no window they could force entry into, not a single foothold they could leap to.

They hang there for a moment as the groups of Guards below met without finding the criminals that should be in the area.

By some chance, one of the Guards looked up and after squinting his eyes to focus, found the two who prayed that they won't be seen.

"Crossbows!" Their captain shouted but at that moment, a certain chemical dust exploded in the Guards' midst and envelops the men as they hacked and cough. One by one they slumped to their knees and fell on the cold cobble road, knocked out by both intoxication and inability to breathe oxygen. Their moving chests are the only sign that they are breathing and thus still alive.

Which a creaking and a sound of rusted steel rotating, a bridge from a faraway roof descends slowly but it doesn't seem stable as of now so Sun didn't jump. Hyma watching Sun's postponement of jumping, refrained from doing so too.

An arrow then flies from the shadow where the newly set bridge ends as a faraway pulley, on the other side, broke and let down the other half of the bridge, the unrestrained fall a bit loud. Only once the two bridges are set did it stabilize and only then did Sun jump onto the rooftop bridge.

"Thanks for the assist." Sun thanks the Master Thief as he walked towards the end where he thought Garrett would be but "This way," his voice came behind Hyma as he appeared from the other side.

Hyma's heart is about to jump from her chest, though she knew that there is another person that helped her escape, there wasn't a single indication that the shadowy archer is behind her. He had just shot an arrow from the other side of the bridge and the bridge isn't wide enough for two people disallowing passage if one stands in place.

She watched Sun's amused smile as she recognized the same awe she have. _How is he able to appear from seemingly impossible places?_ This Sun person is too, amazed by his friend's ability to surprise.

Sun tugged the rope arrow in a trial to pull it down but to find it to be firmly held onto the wooden beam. He pulled harder but it still wouldn't budge. He looped the arrow around his arm and with momentum, pulled even harder before the arrow finally gave way.

Lacking proper perception of the bridge width, Sun's found his feet at the edge as he starts to tip, losing balance. Hyma was about to jump and hold onto any part of the Faunus she could reach but Garrett somehow grabbed the teen's shoulder and pulled him back to balance, saving him from a painful fall onto the piles of Guards below. Landing on their armour hurts, unarmoured people maybe less.

She looked back, where Garrett is supposed to be, back to Sun where Garret is in front of him, back again at disbelief at how Garrett passed over her without her noticing his movement or even seeing him move. It was like he's there and now he's not, he's not there and now he's there. '_Is it an_ _illusion?_' She asks herself_ 'If it is what is the trick?_'

"Are you all right?" Though Sun didn't see it because he fell behind the chase, Garrett saw Hyma handle a few Guards that obstructs her path. If his vision, which is as sharp as an eagle's own, is true, then she should've gained some cuts from sword slashes and bruising by the flat side of the sword flrom backswings.

"I'm all right." She assured as Sun have an expression that says, '_what's it all about?_' but for Hyma to wave off.

As the trio walked on the direction that Garrett chose, the only few sounds they made, Hyma made, is grunts from climbing tall obstacles, jumping from roof to roof, balancing beams to cross the road as Hyma experiences her first of 'parkour'. They weren't running but the obstacles are hard enough for Hyma that Garrett and Sun both occasionally helped.

The silence was broken when Garret says, "You have the exceptional bounty on your head," as he observes the poster that portrays her and states a bounty of 5000 Liens.

Hyma didn't say a word.

Thinking that he made a wrong impression, Garrett took out a bounty poster from nowhere and opened it to reveal himself, well, his shrouded self. Stating dead or alive, the numbers brought both Sun's and Hyma's eyes gaping wide, 50 million gold and even more outrageous, the date of the poster is two years back.

Current global currency is Lien but Atlas' common currency, more common with the nobles than it is in the commoners, is gold coins. The precious metal is used in all forms of trade, barter, and business as payment, moulded onto statues as art and or a show of wealth.

1 Atlas Gold coin is now 0.2 Lien. Two years back, Atlas in it's great progressive industrial revolution, each of her gold coins can be exchanged for a minimum of 6 Liens and that is enough for two large meals or enough alcoholics to make a man drunk. 50 million? It can buy a city, two cities. Garrett's value is equal to thousands of lives in monetary value.

"Well, those were my glory days." Garrett seems to reminisce about his 'days' as he rolled his bounty up and stored it in god knows where.

Sun couldn't handle it any more and asks, "Where the hell did you keep your inventory?" Only now did Hyma notice that both the bow and arrow filled quiver worn on his back is missing. "How do you keep them all hidden?"

"With experience," Garrett held out a hook out of nowhere before replacing it with Blackjack and then with Clockwork, "You'll be able to do it if you know how." Watching him do it so easily is mind-boggling that Sun could get a headache if he tried analysing the methods. It was similar to the rope arrow, Garret pulled it off so easily before but it held the wood beam really hard.

"Come on," He ushered them to what seemed to be the edge of the city, the forests lush behind the tall walls.

"We're going out?" Sun expected Garrett to lead them to a hotel room, accessible by rooftop doors, or at least an inn where they could rest for the night but no, they are going to leave the safe confines of the city walls, at night nonetheless, to the dangerous wilderness.

"If it's out there, I have a place," Hyma offers, "It's not far." and that is the worst understatement of the year.

The trio passed two outposts, each kilometers apart, spanning a distance of almost a hundred miles, only then did they arrive at an abandoned third outpost. Reasons of abandonment are unknown to the newcomers but neither Hyma who stayed there for a few weeks knew.

It is cold and so Sun lighted up the fireplace in a cabin of the outpost. Hyma had a sleeping bag that she could use as Sun have to retreat to one of the beds, without any heater, with very thin blankets. Garrett chose strangely as he exited the warm interior, climbed up a tree, and dozes off there.

Hyma thought Garrett is more monkeyish than Sun who is a monkey faunus, preferring nature over civilisation.

With that as her last thoughts, she too prepared to sleep as he night is old. It's around 1 or 2 am now and after the workout they have all done, they need the rest.

* * *

_If this is a game, Garrett will be in an open world explorative mode. You can explore the outpost for information, items, ect. Find stored away, locked and hidden storage and safes to get extra cash or tools. Interact with the workshop and forge to open the synthesize menu for making new items if he have any materials, which he doesn't as of now. [His inventory is not perfect and can't bring a house with him]_

_Talk with your party members Sun and Hyma, interact with their inventories, equipment, chat about yesterday, what they should do now since they are now in the same shit and a little 'get to know' with them but this is a story but heck, I'll add the dialogues into it._

* * *

As the light started to shine, the sun starts to rise, Garrett's eye popped open. Usually, at this time, it's his time to sleep, to rest for the next night, next heist. Of course, he have regular sleep nights when there are no 'gigs' or deals going on and the days are fruitful in repairing tools, making new arrows, rearming himself with a newer and better arsenal.

Dropping down from the tree he slept on silently, Garrett stretches his arms wide. His leather armour has been deigned for all purposes, which include sleeping on hard surfaces, and thus he isn't slightly sore, his muscle is just still asleep.

Since nobody's awake yet, from the lack of commotion, Garrett opted that it is a good time to explore this abandoned outpost a little bit more.

The current state of the outpost is not poor, the buildings are in a habitable state. Having a barrack, an armoury, workshop, an office, a cabin for higher ranking officials to stay, and four towers at each edge of his square outpost, this seemed to be an ordinary outpost.

No Grimm attacks as of yet, maybe due to it's abandonment. When those vile creatures found out that new inhabitants, more than one person in a place gets attention more easily, they might start attacking.

"Hmm, these tools are still in good condition," He found that the blacksmithing tools by the furnace to be usable, just dusty, "I probably can smith my heads if I have some ores."

The workshop too is just dusty, the carving tools hanging on the wall glinted a bit even under thick dust, "If I have some feathers and a certain kind of wood, I can carve more blunts I need." When he said 'certain' it means unique wood, the one with the property to break during impact. Using regular wood would result in regular arrows which is usable too but of lower quality.

It's the same with the feather. Garrett would've preferred blackwing feather, the same feather that is his symbol, a perfect smooth feather for fletching but it is rare and it's species practically hunted down to extinction in Atlas, only a few remain in the Keeper's sanctuary. Any other arrow works but will of course produce arrows of lower quality, balance and aerodynamic stability.

Shuffling through the armory that has only left behind training swords he found a few locked chest that were left like that, probably due to panick of quick retreat, and so he enjoys his 'way of life' as he flashes his lock picks.

With a *clack, the chest opens one by one.

"What do we have here," One particular chest has a deposit of Dust and Dust crystals, moderate quality but still it's not a commodity found easily in third-rate countries worse fourth-rate. The rest of the chests are bullet and shells of different calibers and gauges, those maybe Sun and Hyma can use.

The barracks held some first aid materials, bandages, medicine and the like, with a few occasional armor plates, helmets, those can be melted as makeshift ores despite the possibility that they are alloys and will weigh twice or thrice his regular arrows. Nothing much really other than Guard uniforms.

One of a tower is a jackpot as left there is an old high-caliber sniper rifle, not interchangeable to close range weaponry nor does it have the capability to be silenced. If anyone needs visualisation, it looks like a KSVK 12.7 without cartridge. A few of its large rounds, ten of them, neatly set within an ammunition box. It might be useful should heavy-duty weaponry is needed.

The outpost has four gates, each in a major compass direction and all of them are closed, vines starting to tangle. The walls that surrounded the compound wasn't so tall and provides easy entry, that is how they entered and should this location be their place of stay, it might need extra protection.

Thinking that is all that could be inspected of the place Garrett exited via rooftop and concludes that it is easily scaled by people like him and Sun, don't know how Hyma did it but she found a way so, yeah, it's not exactly safe.

Once in the wilderness, the plan is to get a decently sized prey and bring it back to camp. It might be a welcome surprise to his other two 'friends' as breakfast, lunch and dinner is served, with enough to be smoked and stored.

"These tracks are fresh," From the paw print, probably a deer and from from one of the deeper prints, there is probably a big one in the group.

Silent as a ghost Garrett traverses treetops as he finds his prey to finally reach a group of deers in a clearing. They having their fill on green grass didn't know they are seen by a shadowy predator as Garrett notches an arrow and aimed.

He did not aim at the largest of the group nor did he aim at the fawns, Garrett chose the one deer that seemingly do not have a partner and is aged above average. Flesh of animals toughen as they age but hunting their youths are equal to killing a human child so take the life of least consequence.

Letting loose of his grip, his broadsword arrow fly straight and true as the shot penetrated its skull, a quick and instant death. The herd scatters as it fell.

Dropping to the ground to pick up his hunt, Garrett first chants a small rite of prayer common to ancient Naturists that honors nature before he took the carcass behind his back and drag it back to the outpost.

It is about noon and both Sun and Hyma have awakened as he returned with his hunt. Since the deer too heavy to carry up the walls nor is it durable enough to survive a throw, Hyma opened the gates for Garrett to enter.

Sun has disappeared though, looking for food by himself as 'he couldn't just wait around' Hyma said.

Garrett skins the deer of it's fur then gutted it's innards before skillfully butcher it's flesh of meat, ribs, cutlets, ect.

Hyma using a makeshift pantry and newly lit fire roasted a few for brunch, Garrett put the rest on a stool for it to smoke.

Sun returned not long after bringing back fruits of numerous and exotic kinds. Excited by his numerous finds he claimed that they are edible as he tried it himself.

Hyma berated him, "Don't eat without thinking! What if it's poisoned."

"Nah, It's completely safe!"

Garrett took a bite of the flesh of one with spiky, rough, exterior and found it sweet. There's a lemon kind of sour after the initial sweet but it is nice nonetheless. It caused a cooling sensation as if refreshing the mind.

"See," Sun used Garrett's actions to right his own, "Garrett seem to think it's fine too."

"Fruits are rarely toxic," Garret helped so Hyma would feel relieved, "Regularly only mushrooms, flowers and grasses are toxic and rarely in fatal amounts." He felt the power of a laughing mushroom before and the experience is not nice, but he lived through it.

Hyma pondered at that logical reasoning and resigned to it finding no reason to argue.

"Since we have no problem with food here, we really need to fortify this place."

Neither Sun nor Hyma questioned the 'we' but they surely question 'why?', their faces is practically asking the question.

"We'll be living here for a while," If Hyma's sleeping bag is not an indication, "These walls may be built to repel Grimm but men can easily climb it. If the Guards chose to retake it, we wouldn't be able to hold it."

"Why are we going to hold it even? We can just leave you know."

"Sun is right, and I have expected your mindset to be similar, flee not fight."

"I need a secret base," That really sounds militaristic, "Somewhere to stash my loot in you know and this place is perfect, it's even got tools we can use," Assuming they can metalwork, "There's an armory, many beds to sleep, wood abundant," Garrett pointed at the lush forest that is about to overgrow into the outpost, "I would love to keep this place ours."

"Only three of us wouldn't work," Sun argued, "We won't finish much work by ourselves."

"I'll scout the area then, meet with other outlaw camps, invite a few of their best behaved men to a place of better accommodation." Hyma being the good girl she is offered, "I know a few people around here, I usually trade with them."

"Merchants are also welcome, they would love free accommodation with a paying job." Garrett added, "I'll be managing the armory, ammunitions and weapons I can maintain."

"I'll focus on fortifying the walls as you said then," Sun chose his 'work', "I'm not good in socializing with others and maintenance of my weapon is the only technical ability I have and it doesn't apply much to anything else."

"I'll help with the fortifications, not much are in the armory anyway."

"You already checked everything out did you?" Sun knew that Garrett would be one step ahead, he always is.

"I'll be going then," Hyma excused herself as Garrett shouts, "Catch!", as she caught a small parcel. In the parcel is a few pieces of charred venison and, in another layer untouched by food, a few 10 lien bills. "In case you need dinner and leverage."

Once everyone's got a plan, for the first time, they worked hard. Treating it as some sort of exercise each trained their respective abilities, communication skills for Hyma while the two teen at base is training their strength and vitality, the day ended with a small percentage of work done as the sun sets.

Days pass as men and occasional women came to live in the outpost and it grew into a small village of eight, six travelers and two merchants.

With the increased manpower, thing get finished faster. Within two weeks, the fortifications were done, entry is restricted to gates. Nearby trees, the one whose branches could reach the newly fortified walls were cut down, it's wood stored within the outpost's shed.

Quantity of supplies whether it be firewood, timber, food, and ammunition, they accumulated plenty. It even started to have agriculture of it's own when a family settled in and tried to make a farm out of the gates where the lands weren't as hard.

Outlaw posts like these were called _Quilombos_ somewhere Garrett has visited before. Usually having a lot of mistreated slaves, obviously outlaws, wanted men and shady characters, these places are usually regarded as a 'Hellhole' by upper district citizens.

Still they are comfortable. Not just 'surviving' but they 'live' well.

Little did they know, a pair of eyes watch the outpost and them in it. Those eyes are wondering why they are there since they can clearly see that the current inhabitants aren't the regular guards nor soldiers. They seemed to be travelers, wanderers, merchants, merrily occupying the abandoned post.

It seemed, fun.

She was tempted to try entry, a 'visit' and meet with the especially mysterious leader. Shrouded, his face never seen. Hidden by the darkness of the shadows even she could not detect his exact location. Only the overwhelming presence is there but it seemed to be a lingering thought, like an illusion.

Oh, she just wanted to 'know'.

* * *

2 OCs Bio here and I can declare that Garrett's prologue is now officially is mixed with RWBY version of 'Journey to the West' as a party of four will stop a war.

* * *

Name : Daisy Orland [Female] Age : 17

Inspiration : Zhu Bajie [The pig from 'Journey to the West' romance, a general of heaven but was punished for his numerous mortal sins.] He was nicknamed 呆子, '_dāizi' _meaning 'Idiot' thus where the name come from. Of course, she wouldn't be incompetent as the pig itself as she holds all his virtues without his faults. Her family name means "Renowned in the land" because she is popular in her society.

A Boar Fauna, having boar ears without regular human ears, she belongs to a clan that lives in the harsh conditions of unknown locations. Their village is practically hidden from outsiders and do not like to get involved with others but she is the exact opposite. She likes to travel and thus, multiple times, exit their hidden village to explore their wild continent despite the numerous unknown dangers.

She learns from travellers of many things, of the wonders of science, technology and the numerous things they could do with Dust. Sadly, some of the outsiders with less ethical capabilities wish the clan's Dust mine for themselves and eventually a war evolved between the clans of the land with the colonials of Mystral. The war rages on even till now even if there aren't large skirmishes.

Appearance : Having brown hair and tanned skin just like the rest of her clan, she have an unusual bright red brown eye. Relatively slim, since she is quite tall at 175, giving a petite feel and far stronger than what her build could perform. Wears a regular combination of t-shirt and jeans despite the torn sleeves and numerous tears on the fabric compared to her clan's more 'bushmen' wear of sewn-together-leather, she wore panties and brassiere too rather than the common loin clothes.

Personality : Calm and Tolerant. Being the grand-daughter of the chief means withholding a lot of pressure and many hands in marriage. She is optimistic and kind-hearted, helping anyone in need, granting her goddess like position of the village. Adventurous but repressed. Determined and believes hard work outweighs talent.

Weapons : Leather gauntlets and shin guards [Uses a mixture of self taught, from local fauna, animalistic martial arts to devastate opponents. Eagle claw and Crane fists being her favourite reaction moves, Snake and Monkey fists for taunting and distraction, and finally, Tiger and Bear fists for slow but brute force attack.] She have adequate experience of weaponry, able to use swords, staves and blunts in case she hold weapons of disarmed enemies.

In the future, she would learn about trickery, illusions from watching Garrett, and learn the versatile Mongoose and Dragon fists.

[These names are borrowed from Shou Shu martial arts created by Al Moore]

Semblance : Enhanced Strength [Both offence and defensive capabilities boosted, treat it as a higher form of Reinforcement.] Regeneration speed increases too when active. [A common semblance in the community for warrior/hunter roles] Reaction time, perception, is increased. Basically a boost in combat capabilities.

A Little bit more about boar faunas, the males have a relatively larger body build and muscles. They have tusks as an additional facial feature making them fearsome to regular humans and in a way, looks like Orcs of other games. Their women are exceptionally beautiful though.

* * *

Name : Hyma Arhat [Female] Age : 18

Inspiration : Sha Wujing [Originally a general of heaven just like Zhu Bajie, he accidentally destroyed a vase and was punished for it. Reincarnated as a man-eating-dust-demon. Arhat comes from the title 羅漢 '_Luóhàn_' which means Arhat, an enlightened or a perfect person.] The first name however comes from the Hindu goddess Parvati.

She was born into quite the normal family, in the villages of Mystral, until she wishes to see the world, learn and experience new things and so she left her home. Having bad directional sense or just her being an airhead when unfocused, she somehow or another made her way to the new world, the 'wild wild west' most call it and is the deadliest place on earth with large Alpha and Major Grimms everywhere, not counting the Grimms of S class and of any danger levels above it.

A travelling human that is cursed, accidentally, with a brand that forces other's negative impression of her extremized. [It means when someone thought of another, in this case her with the brand, any 'bad' feeling will be multiplied. A slight distaste will turn into severe loathing. Vice versa do not apply.] This makes her hard to make friends for a little bit of suspicion will lead to anxiety. [It somehow doesn't affect Faunuses and Garrett is the only human exception]

Appearance : Middle eastern, black ponytailed hair, magenta eyes and slim body. Wears a dress, similar to that of dancers, that covers most of her top and bottom but shows her belly and button but doesn't have the appendages that disallow flexibility and movement, a modified dancer dress for fighting. Not much ornaments except for bronze bracelets on both her arms and the silver brooch that holds her ponytail.

Personality : Cheerful but fearful. Not too smart but above average intelligence gives her the ability to understand complicated concepts. Have the potential to be something great but lack of spirit and constant focus causes her to be more or less a mediocre wanderer rather than an adventurer. If she is determined and or motivated, she could perform great things. Claims to be able to be "A good wife."

Weapons : Veravulvjha [Twin Crescent Axe|Moonring Halberd|New Moon Trident|Eclipse Gauss Rifle]

[The weapon must change in sequence. For example, the default mode of halberd can either split into axes or shift it's blades into a trident but it could not turn into rifle mode instantly. Vice versa, Trident form could not split into twin axe form but can turn into Halberd form or Rifle form.] Each form signifies an element. Axes for Earth, Halberd for Fire, Trident for Water and Rifle for Air. [Nope she's not the Avatar]

Semblance : Granules [Regular sand, metal sand, anything granular can she manipulate. When focused, the could even control molecules and fine powdered Dust.] She uses her semblance to perform pseudo alchemy. As long as focus is held during the transformation/transitional process, she could perform almost anything. Ruin her focus and she panics, easily hurting herself in her mind's turbulence and failing whatever she tried to do.

* * *

Thank you for reading this far, please review for your thoughts will always be helpful. I appreciate it if you try, even a few words.


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